A PhotographyREVIEW.com community member invited me out to Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City for a NASCAR Western Division race. Jimmy B is an official inspector for NASCAR’s Western Division and arranged for me to get a pit pass. I went on a Friday with a couple of test cameras and spent a few hours walking around in pit lane and through the garages during morning practice.

Sure, it’s good news for race fans, that being that Chrysler will still have a factory interest in NASCAR racing for the ’09 season, but it will be at a reduced level than in ’08. That all makes sense, given that Chrysler is hanging on by the skin of it’s corporate teeth, and it still holds up the supposition that racing is a worthwhile endeavor.

However, how will this decision be seen by the public at large?

A good portion of the car buying public, the people that are into cars like you and me won’t see it as that big a deal. If you can afford to go racing, then you go. It’s a simple equation. A lot of other people, however, see racing, all racing, as a frivolous endeavor. They don’t see the R & D benefit to racing, and a lot of people don’t see it as being a fun activity, either to watch, or participate in.

These are, most likely, the same people, that have never thought of “going for a drive” as something to do for its own sake. These are, most likely, the same people, that see their cars as little more than appliances (if that). A car to these people is the appliance that takes them from point A to point B, much a like a toaster is the appliance that heats and partially chars their Wonder “bread”